The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia Council discussed several issues related to its operations, at the session held today.
Press release of the NBRM
The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia Council discussed several issues related to its operations, at the session held today.
The Council adopted a Decision on the terms and the manner of extending foreign exchange credits and Denar indexed credits among residents, specifying the requirements binding for the banks that perform such credit activity. The banks are also required to develop respective policies and procedures for managing risks that arise from such activities. Also, the Decision specifies that the banks extend foreign exchange or Denar indexed credits solely to residents classified into A and B risk categories and/or who provided first-class collateral. As to the manner of extending foreign exchange credits among residents, it is planned that the credit is disbursed in foreign currency if intended for settling an external liability. If intended for payment of residents' domestic liabilities, the credit will be disbursed in Denars.
The Council adopted a Decision on the mathodology for determining a net-debtor of a bank, for the purposes of more pricise identification of net-debtors, who, as specified by the Banking Law, cannot be members of the banks' boards of directors. In addition, the quarterly average of estimating the banks' average annual claims and liabilities used in the Methodology for determining a net-debtor of a bank is replaced with a monthly average.
The Council discussed the Information on the use of payment instruments in the Republic of Macedonia in 2005. The Council was informed on the number of accounts used for making payments and their availability for payment through an E-system. Also, the instruments used for making domestic payments were presented, such as credit orders, checks, orders for direct debiting and payment cards, as well as the machines for using payment cards in the country. In addition, a comparison was made with several countries from the region which release such information. The information is based on data submitted by the institutions responsible for conducting payment operations through the Information system developed by the National Bank for this purpose.
The NBRM Council discussed and adopted the Quarterly Report 4/2005, the Monthly Report for January 2006, as well as the recent macroeconomic developments. The Council, also, ascertained that the average inflation rate in the January-February 2006 period equaled 2.7%, primarily due to the increase in the excise and the additional cigarette taxes.
In February 2006, the total deposits went up by 17.6% relative to the same month of 2005, implying further increase in the savings and higher confidence in the banking sector. As a result, the banks' lending activity accelerated, and in February 2006, the total banks' placements to the corporate sector were by 19.6% higher compared to February 2005. The interest rate on the CB bills auctions remains within 6.5% and 7.0%. In early-March 2006, the NBRM, together with the Ministry of Finance, started offering government securities for monetary purposes, within the framework of Treasury bills auctions, in order to make gradual replacement of the CB bills and create a homogenous government securities market.